You must be mistaken
by FoxyClocks
Summary: Marinette has finally decided to start going to a regular school but once again she's been mistaken and has been introduced to her class as Marin Dupain-Cheng. Too nervous to find the courage to speak up she decides to wait but finds herself too deep to reveal to her class that she is really a girl. So maybe she should just roll with it?
1. Chapter 1

So this is to help me get away from writers block - it's gonna be a pretty slow burning fic. I got the idea somewhat from a Chinese show called Bromance? You guys should 100% watch it!

Also I know it's short but I just needed to get this part out before I could really start writing for it!

* * *

My parents met in the spring of 1993.

My father, without knowing a lick of Chinese traveled to the country after having visited many others on his abroad tour while studying different methods to make pastries. China was his last stop of many.

He stayed in a small town called Tongli and because of his lack of English not many restaurants in the area wanted to hire him but that didn't stop him from trying to learn all that he could.

My mother at the time was 20 years old. She lived on her own but worked in a small family run café with her uncle. Being a somewhat quiet woman my mother found herself mostly studying instead of going out in her free time but that never seemed to bother her.

My father started showing up to the café after having lived in the town around the first week. Language barriers kept him from making many friends. English had helped him get around many countries before but not many people in the small town knew the language considering that it was mostly populated with older people.

But barriers or non- he still noticed her.

He noticed my mother.

After his first visit to the café he admired the petit girl with the long rave hair who stood behind the counter practicing her constructing of pastries. He found it funny the way she would get frustrated after screwing up the decorations on her many practice attempts but he noticed that her uncle never disciplined but rather encouraged her tossing out many of the failed attempts.

He was probably one of the gentlest chefs to his apprentices even considering his intimidating size.

My father told me the first time he ever spoke with my mother he pointed towards the pile of disregarded bean buns and began to shuffle through his pants pockets t grab his wallet. My mother of course insisted that she give him the better looking pastries that her uncle had made but my father refused to take them. He only wanted the ones that she had made wither she thought they were perfect or not- he appreciated the care that she put into each pastry even when she knew they wouldn't turn out to be anything worth selling.

The first word my father learned was 'Xièxiè' – thank you.

And he milked that as much as he could.

He would spend every day in the café from the afternoon to their close. After a coupe days of perfecting his phrase to the baker he had met he bought an French to Chinese dictionary.

It wasn't until a couple days of my father trying and failing to speak with my mother that she finally decided to spare my father anymore embarrassment when she began to speak with him in French. Which in all honesty was probably more embarrassing to him but she appreciated his effort in trying to learn Chinese.

His way of never giving up was something that my mother had admired about him from the start.

My mother convinced her uncle to allow my father to work in their café the Chinese that he learned, while minimal, and still helped him get around their kitchen.

After a few months of living in the small town and working along side my mother it was time for my father to return back home but instead- he stayed.

He stayed much longer than anticipated- a few years longer in fact.

My parents got married in the Chinese countryside in the year 2000.

My mother shortly after found herself pregnant.

My grandmother was a Shaman. She predicted that my mother would give birth to a healthy baby boy in the month of August.

You may or may not know: I am a girl and I was born on October 30, 1999.

But my parents- being the young and anxious people they were they were determined to give me the best life that I could.

I was born in Beijing, China on October 30th, 2000 at 17:45 as Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

To my luck and dismay my feminine physique never quite came into play. Though it wasn't something I ever minded. Long hair wasn't ever something I really liked on myself, short hair was much more manageable.

Growing up I was often mistaken as boy, often heard people calling me Marin in thoughts that they had heard my name wrong.

It didn't matter to me wither people viewed me as a man or woman. I knew who I was and that was all that mattered.

I grew up in a small townhouse in central Paris. The front of my home soon after moving into the place had become a bakery and after about three years into that process of constructing their own personalized bakery it finally opened.

For a while the only two things that they had they could afford to make together was red bean buns and macaroons. The two things that my parents bakery became the most successful for.

I grew up down the block from a small family who had also recently moved into the area and I made my first friend.

Her name was Alya Césaire, she was a year older than I was and the only other person besides my parents to ever call me Marinette.

Through my own choice I decided to become homeschooled through primary school. I was never particularly social as a child and I rather liked being home and learning what I wanted, my parents bought me the supplies I needed to create my designs as well as the knowledge I needed and a job inside their bakery.

But at 17 years old I realized that I was missing out. Though Alya was a handful enough to count for 10 friends in 1 she was still the only person I had, well, knew really. The stories that she had told me from her times in school with her classmates- all of the school trips they had taken and fun activities they did together made me envious.

I wanted that.

So I convinced my parents to allow me to go to school.


	2. Chapter 2

Another short one I know :/ But break is almost here and as of now i'm still working on mid-terms for uni so hopefully i'll be able to give you guys a longer third chapter! I also wanted to say thank you so much to all the people that commented and left kudos on this fic! I really appreciate all the feedback you guys give me so hopefully this chapter is enough of a thanks and if not I promise the next one will be!

(THIS CHAPTER WAS BETA READ BY FANTAU WHO IS A BLESSING OF A PERSON AND SO WONDERFUL)

* * *

It was her first day of school.

Rightfully- she was nervous.

 _What should I wear?_

How should I do my hair?

What if the other students don't like me?

What if my teacher asks me a question that I don't know the answer to?

What if-

Tikki could see from a mile away that her chosen was riddled with anxiety. Hell- she was emitting enough of an anxious aura that even tikki could feel it but Marinette couldn't help it.

"Marinette…" the short-haired girl could hear her tiny voice squeak out through the jumble of thoughts in her head taking a few moments before she could zero in on what she was saying to her, "You look like a wreck – you and I both know that no matter what happens you will not leave that school with any less friends than you started with."

She was right.

There was no way I could ever convince Alya to hate me. Unless I did something super extremely embarrassing to make her hate me forever. GOD! The thoughts kept flooding my head.

"Calm down Marinette." she told herself focusing her efforts back on Tikki, "I still don't know what to wear…" She'd spend the morning shuffling through every item of clothing that she owned, Marinette even for a brief while considered making herself an entire different outfit from scratch because she hated everything she tried on.

Tikki drifted in the space behind me before quickly zipping in front of Marinette to take hold of her cheeks, "Dress in what makes you most comfortable… Don't worry about how anyone else will sees you and you know Alya will be there to have your back."

She was right.

…

Again.

Tikki was always right and was always there to guide her in the right direction. So – she dressed for comfort and she dressed in what made herself unique. She dressed in what she made. In what she was proud of and she didn't care if anyone didn't like it because she liked it and Alya and Tikki liked it and her parents liked it and that should be enough for her…right..?

Marinette clenched her fists with a grimace and stared at her Kwami. Up until this point she still had no idea how she survived growing up without her but she was glad that she would never need to worry about that anymore.

So, the small girl threw on a t-shirt that she had made the summer before. It was white all throughout, reaching the bottom hems of the shirt was lined front to back with flowers and hidden within them small ladybugs. Over that, she pulled on a black jacket and a pair of maroon jeans followed with a pair of old sneakers.

 _Comfort_

 _Comfort_

She kept repeating it in her head.

"Makeup?" she asked Tikki, who by this point had re-curled herself into a burrow of blankets.

"Marinette – you never wear make up."

"Right. I don't even know how to do makeup. Thanks Tik." She was going to go crazy.

Looking in the mirror Marinette tugged at the ends of her hair, which only reached to just barely brush the top of her shoulders. From her neck she traced her fingers up against her scalp and ruffled her hair up attempting something different.

 _I hate it._

Quickly, the messy-haired girl rushed into the bathroom to fix it.

"Marinette! Alya is here!" her mother yelled up to her.

"Just a minute!" Marinette yelled back, frantically reaching for her brush and parting the top layer of her hair and tying it back into a small bun. She rushed back out into her room, scooping up Tikki, and placed her into the largest pocket of her backpack, "Don't worry I'll be sure to stuff some cookies in there for you." She said with a smile before tossing the backpack over her shoulders and giving herself one last look in the mirror.

She adjusted her backpack,

Then the straps on her shoulders.

 _Did students even wear their backpacks like this?_

 _Was this the right k-_

"Marinette!" her mother yelled again snapping her out of her daze.

"Coming!"

Like any mother, Marinette's mother took her anxiety and increased it fourfold. As soon as she had reached the kitchen she found Alya tearing off small parts of a croissant that her mother had made them for breakfast while trying to shoulder all of Sabine's worries. Marinette immediately regretted coming down at all.

Maybe she could've stayed upstairs, never gone to school, grown a beard and become a hermit all on her own and-

"Sweetheart! I packed your lunch for you-" she spun her around stuffing the small bag into one of the pockets of her backpack.

"Thanks mom…"

"And if you change your mind always remember your father and I don't mind teaching you here."

"Yes I know…"

"And if any of the students are mean to you-"

"I'll kick their asses. Don't worry Mrs. Cheng- Lil'Mari will be just fine with me I'll take good care of her." Alya said with a large grin, "You'll scare her before she even gets to school. I know she'll have a good time."

And with that- before Sabine could utter out another word Alya quickly rushed her small friend out the door and past the bakery.

"Thanks Alya.." Marinette said with a nervous grin.

"No problem, girlie, you're mom was making me nervous to go to school and I've been in class with these dorks for almost 3 years." She chuckled tearing off another piece of croissant.

Mariette followed stress eating the melt-y pastry in record time.

"Woah, cool it Mari, you'll give yourself a stomach ache!" the brunette laughed patting her friend on the back lightly, "Seriously, Mari – relax you'll love it and they'll love you. And if they don't love you…" She mumbled cracking her knuckles, "I'll make them regret it…"

She needed a good laugh that morning and thanks to Alya – she got it.

The walk to school wasn't far yet somehow, a part of her hoped that it would be. Their short walk to school wasn't enough to prepare herself. Upon approaching, she reached into her pockets and took out her phone searching through her recent emails.

"So I need to find a…" Her blue eyes drifted along the information filled email, "Mr. Damocles – the principal."

"I'll get you there." Alya smiled, and lead her up the stairs to the school, "He looks sorta scary but he can be a big push over sometimes." She laughed.

The walk to the principal's office seemed like the longest in her entire life. All of the students seemed to be sitting in the courtyard at the school by this point, most likely all waiting for class to start. From then on not only had Marinette realized that she was an outsider before but now she really felt like it. It was almost like she could feel eyes locking in on her when in reality- not many people noticed but of course it was up to Marinette to classically over think her situations.

 _Everything will be fine_ she kept telling herself _and soon I'll be in class with Alya and then I'll be home free._

"Hey- I'll see you later?" the brunette smiled and headed off to her classroom with a smile.

"Yeah… later."

This was his door. Come on Marinette – you can do this… She took in a deep breath and opened the door, "Mr. Damocles?"

"Ahh You must be Marinette, I've been expecting you-" A rather plump man sat on the opposing end of the room behind a large desk, "Oh- I'm sorry, I thought you were-"

"I am Mar-"

"Ahh my sincerest apologies, there must have been an error on the documents sent to us I'll get on that right away." He explained gesturing her to sit down in one of the chairs across from him.

"Wha-…" _What was wrong with my documents?_

"You will be attending classes with Madame Boustier and Madam Mendeleive. I'm sure that anything you need your classmates will be more than willing to give you a hand around the school." He explained sorting through the couple of papers on his desk, crossing out and re-writing some small scribbles, "That class is filled with rather exceptionally well behaved students and if you'd follow me I'll hand you off to Madame Boustier."

"O-Of course." She stammered and nervously followed the principal out of the office and down the hallway. He ushered her to remain outside of the classroom until Madame Boustier brought her in and she willingly complied. Though, she couldn't tell if she was about to throw up from being so excited or from being so nervous... but that was normal, right? Mr. Damocles left the classroom and patted her shoulder, giving her a gentle push into the room.

"We do have a new student this morning so let's welcome them with open arms." Madame Boustier smiled eagerly motioning the girl closer to her. Marinette found herself far too nervous to look out into the class so, instead, she looked at the ground. Madame Boustier held her clipboard up and traced down the papers that Mr. Damocles had handed her and she spoke.

"This is Marin Dupain-Cheng. He's new to the school setting so lets make sure that we give him a hand while he tries to find his way around the school."

 _Oh._

"Marin you can feel free to take a seat beside Alya it seems she's very eager to have her friend in class."

 _No._

"Adrien – If you wouldn't mind showing Marin around during our break this afternoon that would be a great help."

 _What's happening?_

"Of course! I'd be happy to show him around – Nino and I will be a great welcoming party!"

 _Please tell me I'm dreaming._

 _What do I do?_

 _Do I say something?_

 _Do I correct her?_

 _This CAN'T be happening._

Marinette walked zombie-like to the seat beside Alya and plopped herself down.

"Mari…" Alya mumbled nudging my shoulder, "Say something…!"

She shook her head.

Alya grunted and opened her mouth "Mada-"

She elbowed her side cutting her off, "Don't…"

She couldn't tell what was more embarrassing: The fact that she was mistaken for a boy or the fact that she could be from then on known as the girl who got mistaken for a boy. So, she stayed silent and reassured herself slowly reminding herself:

I _t didn't matter how others saw me. I know who I am and that's what matters._

 _That's what matters…_

Marinette looked over and smiled at Alya, "It's okay, really..."

 _I hope it'll be okay…_


	3. Chapter 3

OMG! I'm super sorry this took so long to get out... I was so caught up with a lot of work and I had finals... But i've already started on the next two chapters to hopefully be out very soon since i'm on holiday! Anyway thanks for your guy's patience and thank you for all the views and follows and reviews for this fic! I'm super glad that you guys are enjoying it!

* * *

As soon as Marinette got home she tossed her backpack to the side of the desk, and with spread arms, free fell onto the bed, smushing her face into the covers as deep as she was no doubt about it, she was absolutely done for.

Tikki drifted out of her bag, a little wobbly, and floated over to the bed sitting beside her chosen, "It wasn't that bad..?" There was a hint of question in her tone but she tried as best she could to cover it up with her positive thinking as usual.

"It wasn't that bad…?" The girl muffled into her comforter making inaudible sounds. Marinette gripped onto the blankets launching herself into an upright position, "It wasn't THAT BAD!? I don't know whose backpack you were in all day but it most certainly wasn't MINE!" and with that, She collapsed back onto her bed again, face first, hoping the sheets could smother her embarrassment. Marinette reached up, and grabbed a couple of pillows dragging them towards her head to cover herself, "Today freaking sucked.."

She really couldn't lie. Marinette's first day of school probably wasn't the best, but Tikki pursed her lips trying to keep a rather large smile from forming across her face, "Okay, so maybe today wasn't the best- but think I know something that would make it better.." She finally broke out into a grin.

It was almost as if Marinette could feel her ears perking. Was there really something that could make this day any better? Because, when it came to Tikki trying to make things better, her way of doing so was drowning in a pile of cookies. Marinette proceeded with caution, the look on Tikki's face didn't give that warmth that it usually had, making her eyebrows furrowed, " What did you have in mind…?"

"As I seem to recall it is a Tuesday, and you know what that means…" she began not alluding anything easy to the clueless Marinette in front of her, soon gesturing up to the clock, "And it looks like in about two hours your favorite Tom Cat's going to be waiting for you~"

Her face began heating up.

"And Chat Noir knows that you're 100% a gir-"

Quickly, hurled a pillow into her direction knocking her out of the air and onto the bed, "Shut up!" the dark haired girl shouted smothering herself with one of the other pillows against her face.

"Mari!" She heard her mother call from downstairs.

Marinette started patting her cheeks quickly in attempt to get the flushed red color out of them, "Y-Yeah?" Marinette called back.

"Alya is here! They said they needed some help with homework!"

Quickly, she scrambled for her phone.

No notifications

No messages from Alya.

Usually she text before coming over…

Tightening the small ponytail resting on the back of her head she quickly, made her way down the steep steps into the kitchen area, where her mom gestured towards the living room.

"Hey Alya, you didn't tell me you were coming ov-"

Great. I guess I should have known it wouldn't have been just Alya but instead the two boys who'd given me the tour around school earlier. Shit – I was so preoccupied through the day that I forgot their names and to top it all off: they still think i'm a guy..

"Yeah, we just needed some help with homework and we thought we could hang out for a while." Alya smiled again grabbing the two boys by their arms and dragging them towards the stairs.

"Well-" The three zipped past and ran up the stairs, "Wait! Alya!" Marinette quickly chased after them and could only feel more humiliated when she saw them staring bewildered around her bedroom.

Adrien couldn't say that it looked like how he pictured. Though- he couldn't say that this was how he pictured any teenage boy's room, and then again who was he to judge? The room looked pristine, well kept and very… pink. The only thing he could find just out of place were a couple pillows looking like they'd been tossed from the bed and a backpack hurled into the corner of the room near the desk.

Alya, without hesitation, rushed over to the bed and leapt on it flopping over onto her side with a rather large, relaxed sigh into the comforter of her friend's bed.

Marinette, still catching her breath, started to speak, unknowingly at the same time as the blonde boy who stood across the room from her shuffling through his backpack.

"I can only hang out for a couple hours, I'm busy today."

The two stared dumbfounded at each other.

"I-I've got fencing practice!" Adrien stammered out followed swiftly by a jittery Marinette,

"I have to pick up groceries for the bakery!" Ugh, what a shitty excuse… If there was anything that Marinette was more terrible at it was lying and her excessive use of the whole 'groceries' excuse was something that Alya had heard endlessly. It wasn't like she could just tell Alya something random, like she was going to practice, or work, or had too much homework, because Alya knew everything there was to know about Marinette, which kept her at a great disadvantage.

"Uhg, didn't you get stuff for them last week?" Alya complained kicking her feet up into the air.

"Well yeah but-"

"You can't expect a bakery to run without food, Alya." Nino teased pulling up Marinette's desk chair next to the bed and slinging his backpack off his shoulder, "Don't worry Marin, we'll be outta your hair in a but- Alya said you were good at physics and we're struggling with the homework."

Actually, it's Marinette… Maybe she should say something.. They don't seem that bad and she was sure that they'd understand..but yet again she couldn't buckle down and fins the courage to speak up so she ignored it and went on.

The girl looked down; there really wasn't a way she could say no to them. Now was her chance to make friends – ones like Alya had told her about, going out together to the movies, to lunches, on weekend trips together. As much as she treasured Alya there was never any hard in expanding her list of friends, "I guess I could help.." she mumbled shyly, walking over to her backpack and bringing it over to her bed to shuffle through for her folder.

Being that it had already been September, Marinette was aware that she had missed out on a lot of the material but – it didn't seem to affect her. All things considered – her parents were some of the greatest teachers she could have asked for and she believed that they were probably some of the smartest people in the world. She could only thank her mother for her knowledge in physics. Marinette took out her notebook and slid out the small worksheet their teacher had assigned and looked over it quickly.

This is what they were having so much trouble with…?

There was a feeling of an overwhelming guilt that came over her.

I learned this in middle school…

She leaned over pointing to the first problem on the paper but something caught her eye. She slowly looked up seeing the blonde boy standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. There was only had one desk chair and Alya was sprawled out on most of the bed. So she scooted over a bit and patted the mattress beside her.

He could feel his cheeks warming, why was he so nervous? Hesitating at first he slowly made his way over to the bed sitting beside Marin. The bed was extremely comfortable- he could see why Alya a beeline straight for it but there was something else. Marin given off certain warmth… almost like it emitted off his body but it somehow seemed familiar.

"Does that make sense?" She asked, looking over at the boy sitting beside her as he zoned back in from where ever he had gone off to.

"Yo, Adrien – you alright?" Nino asked leaning forward in his chair.

Adrien was his name… "Adrien," was it alright to say his name? "Do you need me to explain again..?" She questioned again, furrowing her eyebrows.

Marin's eyes… They almost reminded him of-

Alya lurched forward leaning on Adrien's shoulders, "This guy is always zoning out, and you'll get used to it, Mari."

Adrien blushed in embarrassment shoving his face back into his papers and quickly jotting down what he had recalled Marin say, "I-I wasn't zoning out I was just thinking about the answer!"

"Ugh, whatever, you know- you and Mari have the same faces when you zone out." Alya added.

"We do..?"

She shot a gaze over at Alya. C'mon… All she wanted was just to try to make friends… Was it necessary to embarrass her this early on?

"Yeah" Alya began crossing her legs pointing at Adrien, "Except you make that face when you're daydreaming about homework, and Mari makes that face when she's daydreaming about boys-"

"Alya!" Her hands flew up to her face. Maybe, just maybe this time, if Marinette couldn't see them then they couldn't see her... But that wasn't the case. Honestly this day couldn't get any worse… But she wasn't about to doubt the universe for just one second that it could make it worse.

"Hey, it's alright, dude." Nino said, with a soft smile on his face, "I get the same way you got nothing to be ashamed of." He joked nudging her shoulder.

This was going terribly. Honestly, she just wanted to get out of there and go because if there was anyone who could turn the girl's day around it would be Chat. Only an hour left – and she doubted by any force in her mind that something would go wrong. It was bound to happen.

"No really! You should see Mari when we're watching interviews and videos of Chat Noir!"

Nope, she couldn't hold it back any longer, this was it. Was she going to die right here of embarrassment? Well, if she did, it'd been a good life and now she knew for her next time around to never tell anyone anything about her life. Suddenly, Marinette launched herself, pillow in hand and hurled it towards Alya.

Adrien couldn't help but feel embarrassed, not just for himself but for Marin- he couldn't quite imagine the feeling of all this happening at once, being outed by his friend and revealing his crush- there had to be something he could do to try to get the attention away from him.

The blonde leaned back on the bed, propping himself up, "Marin, don't sweat it, Nino makes the same face when he thinks about Al-"

As soon as he felt Nino's arm wrapping around his neck in a headlock, Adrien quickly began 'tapping out' on his friend's arm

Marinette saw the blond's face go from white to red and bit her lip to hold back the laughter.

It wasn't long before Alya shot up underneath her grip and began to try to pry Nino off of Adrien, She assumed that this was probably a normal occurrence, "Nino's got a crush~" Alya taunted with a big grin up at the boy.

"S-Shut up! He was just joking!" Nino said, trying to make an excuse for the pure idiocy that his best friend was emitting.

"It doesn't look like he was jokin-"

"Adrien and Marin have places they need to be let's just get our stuff done and get out." Nino pouted slumping back on his chair.

Homework didn't last too much longer, considering that Marinette had known the materials fairly well and was able to go over it quickly and her three new friends were off on their way, and to make her day a little bit better, she had been added into her first "group-chat" she was really making friends- and despite how embarrassed they made her they didn't seem to judge her for it… Maybe- maybe they wouldn't be so angry or off-put if she told them that she was really a girl….


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry for that wait you guys! I've already started on the next chapter for you guys!I had some stuff with work go down and i ended up getting some stitched in my finger which made it a little uncomfy to type! Thank you guys for all the kudos and views! Hopefully you all won't be waiting on that next chapter for too long!

* * *

"Maman…!" Marinette called out, hearing her voice echo throughout the house, "I'm heading out, I'll be back soon!"

"Be careful dear, I still don't understand why you have to leave! Your father and I don't mind you having friends over!" Sabine called back.

"Oh- Yeah, well they forgot some stuff at home so we were going to meet somewhere else!"

"Don't be out too late, then!"

Rushing up to her room Marinette swiftly closed the door behind her, "Tikki?" She called out seeing her spotted partner zip up in front of her, with a smile, "Spots on..!"

He couldn't help but think about it… Marin- had a crush on… Chat Noir? The blond bit down on the inside of his cheek tightly trying to keep from smiling. Why did that make him smile so much?

"Bro, you've been zoning out a lot lately, you okay?" Nino asked, nudging his friend gently with his elbow.

The two walked slowly down the streets of a dimly lit Parisian evening. Adrien- nor Nino lived to terribly far which was the nice part, at least for them, since the pair had been practically inseparable since they met.

"It's just- I guess I never would have pegged Marin as the Chat Noir fan-type." Adrien went onto explain, trying his best not to embarrass himself. Of course the times watching TV with his friends and seeing ads and magazines around Paris labeling Chat Noir as one of Paris's most "Attractive Kitty Cats" did tend to be a slight embarrassing factor.

Nino reached up, lifting both of his hands behind his head and grinning widely, " I mean can ya blame him?"

"What do you mean?"

"C'mon dude, he's a hot superhero with a skintight suit who is a major flirt with the ladies." The brunette went on to explain.

Pouting, Adrien added, "He's not that much of a flirt…"

"I mean then again you, can't say that you don't see Ladybug in the same way-"

He thought for a moment- did he really think of Ladybug like that?

"I mean she's super hot and smart as hell, what more could you want really? Anyone who doesn't have a crush on her is actually insane."

No, it was impossible to think about her like that.

Ladybug was just a friend.

"I don't know, Nino, it's possible to think all those things about someone and not have romantic feelings for them." Adrien protested.

"Whatever, dude, you just keep thinking that." The brunet laughed, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

The two walked a little farther down the street before the blond pulled out his cell phone:

16:30

He only had about a half hour before he had to meet up with his partner and if he continued with Nino on his path home he knew that he'd never make it on time and Ladybug would never let him live that down. Much like the great many other times he'd been late for patrol. If anything- he hoped that at least this time he'd be early... but before that he had to find a way to get away from his friend.

His fingers tapped against his leg quickly, they were approaching a small alley way. Alright Adrien, just act normal, be cool… "I-I'm gonna take a shortcut home! I'm going to go this way! Bye Nino!" He said before taking off slipping through the ally way quickly.

"Wai- Adrien!" Nino called out but it was a lost cause, "Idiot, your house is in the other direction…"

Honestly she never minded being so early for patrols. She got a moment to herself away from Paris's busy streets. The noise from below barely made it up to her perch and the air was always so refreshing. Ladybug sat herself nearing the edge of the roof letting her leg just barley hang over and kick in the breeze. Coming early to patrol meant that she got the chance to just sit and watch the sun set.

Her arms stretched back behind her, holding her torso up. She let her head tilt backwards and her hair sweep past her shoulders - still styled the same was as before with a small bun tying back her bangs. She watched as the stars slowly come through against the purple sky. By this point it had to be close to five and Chat- as per usual- was about to be late. Ladybug fell backwards laying her against the chilled roof giving herself a better view of the night-turning sky.

Chat paused.

He was late but he didn't mind.

He happened upon his partner lying down on the roof, hands folded against her stomach.

I guess I can see the appeal… he thought to himself taking a couple steps closer to her.

"You're late, kitty."

He stopped in place letting out a sigh, "Just barely, my lady." Chat argued. He walked to where she was resting, and stretched out beside her. "Anything dangerous happen while you were waiting?" he grinned.

"You wouldn't believe it!" She exclaimed tossing her hands up in the air, "There were three fires and four akumas I had to take care of all on my own!"

"Wow- in only two minutes of my absence?"

"You better believe it!" She said cracking a smile turning her head over to look at him as he looked back.

"You're amazing, Ladybug."

The masked hero felt her cheeks flush and begin to burn up. Almost immediately she shot up from her position her hair fell from her shoulders, "W-We should just patrol now… L-Lets go..!" she stammered.

"Woah, woah! Slow down Ladybug!" Chat protested, "We don't have to rush into it, besides it seems pretty calm tonight."

He was right, she just needed to get a grip, "Well, maybe we could make a round... " She suggested. Just a nice calm walk nothing to be nervous about.

"Sounds like a plan!" The cat grinned leaping up onto his feet, "Shall we?"

Chat watched her pull her yo-yo from her hip before he stood up himself. The act of grabbing his baton was so automatic he hadn't realized he'd done it until he was already following her. He loved patrolling Paris, watching the streets below bustle. It wasn't very often they actually caught anything happening, but both of them stubbornly ignore it, and convince themselves to go out.

It wasn't long before the two found themselves aimlessly wandering around, unnoticed by the Parisian pedestrians down below. It was always best for the two to stay out of sight for the pair, getting all the attraction from fans and reporters made quiet nights like this unbearable.

Chat have never been one to be nervous about getting to know someone. Neither did Adrien in this case. He was always a very open and friendly person which, in turn, made people more open and friendly with him. This, time and time again, proved to not be the case with his partner. The only things that he knew about Ladybug that she was probably around the same age as him and that- well, that was really the only thing that he knew about her. Usually directly akuma attacks, Ladybug took off, he always assumed she was busy or camera shy, so he never questioned it and on top of that when ever he tried to talk to her during patrols she tried to avoid any personal or rather any conversation in general and he again, always assumed that it was shyness. But today she seemed a bit distracted, maybe he could catch her off guard. Casually, Chat twisted his shrunken staff in his hand taking long, leisurely steps along side his partner,

"So," he began nervously, he'd never really bothered to ask anything about Ladybug's personal life, that'd always been sort of a topic that was always off limits but the two had grown closer, which made him think that maybe it wouldn't be, "What would you be doing if we were not patrolling tonight?." He grinned hoping that his question wouldn't go unanswered. As much of a flirt and well- as Ladybug so lovingly calls him, a dork he was in his mask he really did want to know more about his partner in crime.

Ladybug smiled gently dragging her feet along the rooftop, fiddling with her fingers, "On a night like tonight…" She paused, she didn't really do anything overly interesting… well, nothing that she thought was overly interesting, "I'd probably be in my room, maybe drawing some designs, watering my flowers, finishing homework. Things normal teenagers do." she smiled. A little uneasy, she'd never been one to be so personal about her life behind the mask but she felt as thought she could trust Chat- that and she found it difficult to say no to him, "And what about you, Kitty?"

"Similar to you, I'm usually doing the same routine, homework, practice, studying…" he listed.

"You're a pretty busy kitty, huh?"

"What else will My Lady leak to me?" He egged on, making his steps last a little longer in stride. He was finally getting her to open up to him and he wasn't about to rush their rounds before he could get closer to her.

Ladybug's eyes drew to a squint and a grin popped up at the corner of her lips, "What are you trying to do, Chat Noir?" she questioned crossing her arms over her chest, slowing down in turn.

Holding his hands up in surrender, "I'm just like any other curious cat." He explained with a cheeky grin plastered on his face.

"I will be broad." She continued holding up her hand beginning to count on her fingers, "You will get three facts about my personal life, but I expect to get three back."

Chat nodded in agreement biting the inside of his cheek, this is something that he had been waiting on for months and he was finally getting it. Although broad and only five he was willing to take what he could get.

"Number one: I attend secondary school, here in Paris" she began listing sticking out her thumb to indicate her list.

"What schoo-"

"No, No, I said broad."

"My apologies, please go on."

"Thank you," She grinned now extending her index finger, "I work in a bakery."

There are an unmeasurable amount of bakeries in Paris, she really wasn't joking when she said broad… but he was determined to figure out how to narrow it down.

"Three," now her middle finger, "I religiously listen to Jagged Stone-

"You like Jagged Stone..?" Chat said with a newfound excitement in his voice, "I love Jagged Stone!"

"What person in the right mind wouldn't! His music is amazing!" There were in fact a couple of people that she could think of that didn't so much like Jagged Stone. Those being the only three people she knew well enough, Her Mother, Father and Alya. Alya never really minded the music but as she says she wouldn't 'Go out of her way to listen to it.'

"Now, it's your turn Cat Boy." She smiled opening up the floor to her partner.

Chat thought for a moment, "Well, to be broad," he mocked, "I am, like you, in secondary school here…. In paris. Two," He couldn't exactly out right tell her that he was a model, "I have a job… working… for a popular industry of sorts."

"Wow." She said unsuccessfully containing a giggle, "And I thought I was being broad."

That was horribly embarrassing but it was the only thing that he could think of, "Well- I learned from the best." He grinned, "And last but not least number three, I similarly to my lady, am Jagged Stone's number one fan."

"Well that's just unfair, you know three new things about you and only know one! You stole two of my-"

Cut off by the sounding bells of the Notre Dame with their starting tones, listening through them she counted out 8 bell tones with a ninth higher than the rest.

"It's 8:30… I told my mom i'd be back!" Ladybug explained, "I'm sorry to cut this night short but, I need to go back home before my parents start worrying." She said in slight panic, taking a couple steps back with her yo-yo in hand.

"Of course, I will continue on the rest of our path through the night and be on my way."

"Thanks Chat, Sorry again! I promise next time I'll be here the rest of the time!" She called out as her yo-yo latched onto one of the buildings.

"Goodnight, Ladybug." Chat said with a smile. He stalked along their normal patrol route, there wasn't all that much more to look over especially considering how calm the night was. Thinking over what Ladybug had told him he wasn't exactly sure where to start. Of course she was going to like Jagged Stone, an amazing hero deserves to listen to amazing music. Ladybug was in secondary school, as he expected, he knew they had to be around the same age, commonly complaining about homework and tests due.. He could at least narrow that down to Seconde, Primière, or like him Terminale. The bakery was also something, though probably a dead end. Being a model- especially one that worked for his father, bakeries weren't something that he really saw a lot of but he knew that he would recognize his Ladybug anywhere and he was determined to start looking as soon as he could.


End file.
